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Deconstruction Review of Fringe, Episode 20 Season 3, 6:01 AM EST

Posted by Karl Withakay on April 23, 2011

A Purple (Both Red and Blue) Episode

As always, an episode synopsis will be found over at Scott’s Polite Dissent

Genetic Noise

The need to strip out Fauxlivia’s chromosomes from her child’s genetic material was an important technical point. If it would have worked to still have her chromosomes in the mix of the genetic sample form her son, then Walternate’s DNA would have worked just as well, since he has 23 chromosomes in common with Peter just like Peter’s son has, though likely not the exact same 23 chromosomes. Apparently the presence of non-Peter Chromosomes is a bigger problem than having only half of Peter’s chromosomes.

It’s Electric!

The phenomenon whereby charge accumulates in certain solid materials as a result of applied mechanical strain is called piezoelectricity. The most familiar use of piezoelectricity is in flintless cigarette lighters and gas barbecue igniters. Quartz is a material that exhibits piezoelectricity. Peizoelectricity does not, however, create something analogous to a battery that holds a change after the strain is relieved. Those rocks should not have been holding a charge as they no longer had a force applied to them. For plot convenience sake, I will have to assume that the effects of the device partially dematerialized the rocks and reassembled them such that the quartz crystals were held in strain in the matrix of the rocks.

It’s Epic!

Nina’s Sprint phone in the hit you over the head obvious product placement was the Sprint Epic version of the Samsung Galaxy S. It’s a pretty sweet phone, and basically the top phone out there with a physical keyboard (as of April 2011). It is a 4G phone with slide out keyboard, front and rear facing cameras, and an LED flash, and it runs the Android OS.

I watched the episode online, and it was extremely inconvenient to backup and replay a scene. Fauxlivia has previously traveled to our universe and back. While she may not have technically understood how it worked, she should remember the basics of how it was done. I’m not sure why Fauxlivia seemd to have no inkling how inter-universe travel is done, or why her universe’s Brandon Fayett (the Chief Fringe scientist in the alterverse) would bother to pretend trans-universe travel can’t be done. Perhaps Fauxlivia wanted to know how to bring someone back and not just how to travel between universes, but the she has accompanied someone a return trip across universes herself.

Fauxlivia:

“Ten months ago, the secretary brough Peter Bishop back from the other side, How?”

Presumably it was similar to the way you traveled between universes, Fauxlivia.

Fauxlivia:

“I read the mission logs. I know the secretary developed technology to cross between universes and bring back Peter Bishop.”

Uhh, she didn’t just read the logs, she met Peter Bishop when he was here, and she accompanied him back to our universe.

Better In the Dark?

So does Fauxlivia prefer to sit in the cell in the dark, or is she being punished and have no ability to turn the lights on?

Note For Saint Louis Viewers

If you missed this episode last night due to local Fox coverage of the storm that hit Saint Louis and attacked Lambert Airport, this episode will air again on Fox tonight (4-23-11) at 10:35PM .

Marksaid

When Fauxlivia originally came to our universe it was because of Bell’s magic unstable atomic structure (or something?). When she came back to her own universe she used a different method involving some sort of rods, but she didn’t necessarily understand how they worked, so asking how it was done was a legit question, I think.

Also, Brandon never said it can’t be done, just that it was dangerous – When Walternate first crossed over he was severely injured.

As for the lights, yeah, I would say it is punishment. They did the same thing for Olivia when they first caught her back in season 2’s finale.

Daedalussaid

I think Fauxlivia wanted the means to go to the other side solo. Yes she went before, but that was as part of Walter’s party. She couldn’t assume that her side had the same ability until she read the logs, perhaps while she was working for Newton. Even then, despite having been brought back by the implanted tuning fork thingies, she couldn’t assume that there was a way to do it that wasn’t an even mass exchange.